British Open: Muirfield anguish lingers for Paul Azinger

No matter how hard he tries, ESPN analyst Paul Azinger will never forget his first trip to Muirfield Golf Links in Gullane, Scotland.

Hoping to become only the fourth golfer in more than 40 years to win the Open in his first attempt, Azinger bogeyed the final two holes to lose to Nick Faldo, his future broadcast partner, by a shot in the 1987 British Open at Muirfield.

“It still hurts to this day,” Azinger admitted. “It’s one of those memories you never forget.”

As Azinger helps describe the action of the 142nd British Open today at Muirfield, he can’t be faulted if his thoughts occasionally drift to his bogey-bogey finish more than a quarter century ago.

“I guess the line is,” Azinger said, “some learn from their experiences and others never recover from it, and I’m going to kind of stick to that if anyone asks me about it. You’ve got to recover from heartache sometimes.”

No one knows that better than Azinger, who recovered from his British Open defeat to post the final nine of his 12 PGA Tour victories, including the New England Classic at Pleasant Valley CC in 1993 and three weeks later the PGA Championship to finally become a major champion.

His greatest recovery, however, came after he was diagnosed in December of 1993 with non-Hodgkin lymphoma in his right shoulder. Six months of chemotherapy and five weeks of radiation rid Azinger of the disease, but it took him quite a while longer to regain his winning form on the golf course — seven years, in fact. Azinger ended his victory drought at the 2000 Sony Open, collecting what would be his final PGA Tour victory. Overcoming lymphoma helped him place losing the 1987 British Open in proper perspective.

“(Jack) Nicklaus finished second 19 times in his career,” Azinger said. “You think he didn’t have some heartache? He had some heartache.”

In last year’s British Open, Adam Scott suffered an even larger meltdown than Azinger did in 1987. Scott bogeyed his final four holes to lose to Ernie Els by a shot, but he didn’t take long to recover. In April, he rolled in a 12-footer for birdie on the second playoff hole against Angel Cabrera to become the first Australian to win the Masters.

“He makes that bomb to win it,” Azinger said, “and it was the most guttural of emotions that I’ve ever seen anybody in any sport ever exude. It was so guttural that it was halfway between crying and laughing; and the joy that overcame him on the 10th green, how his body shook. It gives me chills just to talk about it.

“But I believe it’s not always what you accomplish in life that matters, sometimes it’s what you overcome, and what he overcame by losing the British and winning the Masters is just a terrific achievement.”

Some British Open courses cause awkward, unlucky bounces, but Azinger said that’s not the case with Muirfield.

“I think a lot of the luck factor is eliminated here,” he said. “It’s not a quirky golf course. It’s easy to learn. It only takes a couple of good practice rounds to get to know the golf course.”

Whenever you play in Scotland, the course is only part of the story.

“The weather can be just absolutely horrendous,” Azinger said, “sideways rain, freezing cold, and anybody who has a ticket is still there. You just marvel that nobody heads for shelter at that tournament.”

ESPN analyst Andy North pointed out that no one knows how healthy Tiger Woods will be this week when he tries to win his first major championship since the 2008 U.S. Open.

“I suspect,” North said, “that he’s going to have some lingering effects of what’s going on and it may take one shot in the rough to basically have another major go by without having an opportunity to win. … I think every major that goes by puts pressure on him. He’s very much in the same situation as a guy who has never won a major right now in that the next one is so important to him.”